Aether

The Enactive Drawing AI

Aether is an interactive AI drawing partner designed not as a tool that produces images, but as a system that collaborates with humans in the unfolding process of creation.

Unlike traditional generative AI systems that optimize toward output quality, Aether is grounded in the cognitive science theory of enaction — the idea that meaning emerges through interaction.

Drawing, in Aether, is not a task.

It is a shared process of sense-making.

What Is Aether?

Aether is a co-creative drawing AI that works with users in real time on a shared canvas.

As you draw, Aether:

• observes your marks
• models your emerging creative direction
• responds with its own contributions

Creation becomes a dialogue — a back-and-forth exchange where ideas evolve through interaction rather than being generated in isolation.

This approach builds on earlier co-creative systems such as the Drawing Apprentice and AI Drawing Partner, which demonstrated how AI can analyze user input and contribute meaningfully during the act of drawing .

But Aether moves beyond response.

It participates.

From Generation to Participation

Most AI art systems operate through:

Prompt → Generate → Output

Aether operates through:

Mark → Response → Adjustment → Stabilization

In this way, the artwork is not produced by either the human or the AI.

It emerges between them.

This interactional approach reflects decades of research in co-creative AI, where systems collaborate with users on a shared artifact through turn-taking, feedback, and iterative exchange .

A Living Creative Partner

Aether collaborates by:

• Drawing alongside the user
• Transforming existing marks
• Introducing new structural elements
• Supporting exploration and refinement

Its responses may include:

• extensions of existing shapes
• unexpected reinterpretations
• structural completions
• generative visual suggestions

Earlier co-creative agents used reactive and generative methods to interpret sketches and contribute content in real time .
Aether expands this into a fully participatory interaction model.

The Enactive Foundation

Aether is grounded in the idea that:

Creativity is not the production of novelty —
it is the maintenance of meaningful interaction.

This perspective comes from the enactive tradition in cognitive science, which describes cognition as emerging through ongoing engagement with the environment and others.

In prior systems such as the AI Drawing Partner, co-creation was modeled using a framework called co-creative sense-making, which quantified how meaning emerges through human–AI interaction .

Aether evolves this into a new focus:

Not just modeling interaction —
but regulating it.

Drawing as Interaction

Aether treats drawing as a dynamic system.

During a session, it tracks:

• creative momentum
• structural stability
• exploratory variation
• convergence patterns

Earlier quantified co-creative systems captured interaction dynamics such as collaboration patterns and behavioral trends to analyze creativity .

Aether extends this by helping sustain:

• flow without chaos
• structure without rigidity
• novelty without fragmentation

The goal is not optimization.

The goal is viable collaboration.

A New Kind of Creative AI

Traditional creativity support tools aim to improve the product.

Co-creative systems such as the Drawing Apprentice instead aimed to stimulate the creative process itself by introducing unexpected contributions at meaningful moments .

Aether builds on this legacy by:

• modeling creative direction
• sensing shifts in coherence
• adapting participation style

Rather than finishing your drawing,

it helps your drawing remain alive.

For Artists and Researchers

Aether serves two audiences:

Creative practitioners
who want a responsive partner in exploration

and

Researchers
who want to understand how creativity unfolds through interaction

Earlier platforms like the AI Drawing Partner demonstrated how co-creative systems can log and model collaboration dynamics to study creative behavior .

Aether extends this into a platform for studying:

• interactional creativity
• emergent meaning
• shared agency

Why Aether Matters

As generative AI becomes more powerful, the key question shifts:

Not “Can AI create?”

But

“How can AI collaborate?”

Aether represents a move from:

AI as generator
to
AI as participant

It explores a future where creativity is not automated —

but shared.

The Future of Human–AI Creativity

Aether is part of a broader effort to design AI systems that:

• engage rather than replace
• support rather than optimize
• evolve with users rather than dictate outcomes

It represents a shift toward:

Interaction over output
Regulation over control
Participation over production